China Now Audi’s Biggest Single Market

Audi AG overtook Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz as the world’s second biggest premium-car brand after BMW AG in 2011 as it became the latest German luxury auto company to report record sales on booming demand in China and the U.S.

Audi, a unit of Volkswagen AG, said Monday it sold about 1,302,650 cars last year, beating by more than 210,200 cars its previous record set in 2010. It cited demand for its full-size models as a significant factor behind the rise.

China became Audi’s biggest single market for the first time as sales jumped 37% to 313,036, it said in a statement. Sales in the U.S. rose 16%. They climbed 12% in Europe.